I do laugh at all the posters who go see good high school teams and are not impressed (I only read 30 or 40 of those posts on here this year). That's generally someone who watches a lot of NFL or SEC football, but is just passing through the high school scene while their son, brother, nephew is playing. They really don't realize that high school football is still not won by one-on-one plays. In big time college and pro football everyone runs a 4.1 forty and is built either like a Greek god or like a tank. They can all bench press the ribbon winning pig at the fair. At that level it comes down to athletes making plays. In high school, it's about scheme, discipline, grit.
Teams that win consistently in high school know how to win HIGH SCHOOL football. It's a different animal than college or pro. It's a run based game in high school an always will be. Teams simply don't have enough time or talent to run what the New England Patriots or Florida State Seminoles run and do it effectively. The forward pass is still just one step from being a "trick" play with a team like Bird. The play action pass is still the way to throw the ball in high school. Roll that QB out so he has the option to run, maybe. Sure, every once in a while you'll have so much talent you can win while throwing all over the place, but even the best I've ever seen at that, usually ends up getting bumped by some smash mouth team.
Those posters are the same ones who are in the crowd yelling to run the kick out of the end zone, or screaming that the pass was uncatchable so there was no interference, or who wonder how the clock keeper missed the two-minute warning. It's a different game and you've got to look for different things in a good high school football team. I watch the lines, and I watch the running backs after first contact. I look to see if defenses can stop the run without selling out with 9 or 10 guys in the box. I look to see outside linebackers and corners know their assignments when the opponents test them off tackle and around the end. A lot of "undisciplined" teams don't get flags, but they blow assignments, but people here use it as a synonym for gets a lot of flags as has a lot of swagger--not the same at all.
Whatver they tell you to look out for in NFL games to determine who is good, isn't much use in high school. A kid's ability to make a circus catch on an interception is not important when he's covering the wrong man, or using such bad technique that he's not even in position to make the circus grab.
